Keeping to the Female

He who is aware of the Male but keeps to the Female becomes the ravine of the world. Being the ravine of the world, he has the original character (teh) which is not cut up. And returns again to the (innocence of the) babe.

He who is conscious of the white (bright) but keeps to the black (dark) becomes the model for the world. Being the model for the world, he has the eternal power which never errs, and returns again to the Primordial Nothingness.

He who is familiar with honor and glory but keeps to obscurity becomes the valley of the world. Being the valley of the world, he has an eternal power which always suffices, and returns again to the natural integrity of uncarved wood.

Break up this uncarved wood and it is shaped into vessel in the hands of the Sage they become the officials and magistrates. Therefore the great ruler does not cut up.

(Tao Teh King 28)

Existence has two (seeming) aspects, the transcendent and the immanent, the Absolute and the Relative. One is an absolute Unity and the other is an absolute Duality–even though they are both the one Tao. The Tao is one, yet It is also dual as is illustrated in the yin-yang symbol. In the Tao Teh King this duality is spoken of in more than one place as “male” and “female.” In Indian cosmology the passive transcendent principle is considered male and the active creative power which manifests as the entire field of relative existence in considered to be feminine (though this was not always so, as the symbol of Nataraja indicates). In Taoism the opposite is postulated: the passive is feminine and the active is masculine. We must keep this in mind whenever the Tao Teh King speaks of male and female.

He who is aware of the Male but keeps to the Female becomes the ravine of the world. Being the ravine of the world, he has the original character (teh) which is not cut up. And returns again to the (innocence of the) babe.

He who is aware of the Male but keeps to the Female becomes the ravine of the world. There is no reason to tune out material existence. Certainly the artificial world of human making is mostly deadly or useless, but the simple world around us is both beneficial and necessary. The yogi is keenly aware of the natural world, but does not identify with it or allow any of its phenomena to dislodge his consciousness from being centered in the spirit-self.

Those who never lose their awareness of spirit have no danger of being ensnared by matter, but I am speaking of a state of consciousness, not an intellectual outlook or attitude. Many are those who claim to be “above it all” or “understanding” materiality while being hopelessly enmeshed in and addicted to it. There is no way to spiritualize delusion, but many dishonest ways to justify it. One time while eating in Yogananda’s marvelous vegetarian restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, some carnivore related that when Edgar Cayce was questioned about eating a pork chop he said: “If I can’t raise the vibration of this pork chop, what good am I?” I saw no reason to point out that Edgar Cayce had proved to be of very little worth, spiritually speaking, and that only a very foolish person would try to raise the vibration of a dead pig, much less waste energy doing so even if it were possible. And anyway, why EAT it? A number of people have bragged to me about their “holy” drug use and sexual indulgence, but their state of mind and life proved them either liars or dupes. So “keeping to the Female” involves very real detachment and non-involvement with the world of deluded humans.

Lao Tzu informs us that those who move through the world while remaining centered in spirit-awareness will be like a ravine into which water flows–all the good and valuable elements of the world will flow to such a one naturally. He will live life to the fullest, and his time on this earth will not be a misery or a weary awaiting of death so he can escape it–though this is the attitude of negative religion. Rather, his life will be full and a means of his development, inner and outer. There is no richer or more satisfying life than that of the yogi, as the Bhagavad Gita describes so beautifully. Here is the result of “keeping to the Female”:

“The illumined soul whose heart is Brahman’s heart thinks always: ‘I am doing nothing.’ No matter what he sees, hears, touches, smells, eats; no matter whether he is moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, excreting, or grasping something with his hand, or opening his eyes, or closing his eyes: this he knows always: ‘I am not seeing, I am not hearing: it is the senses that see and hear and touch the things of the senses.’

“He puts aside desire, offering the act to Brahman. The lotus leaf rests unwetted on water: he rests on action, untouched by action. To the follower of the yoga of action, the body and the mind, the sense-organs and the intellect are instruments only: he knows himself other than the instrument and thus his heart grows pure.

“United with Brahman, cut free from the fruit of the act, a man finds peace in the work of the spirit. Without Brahman, man is a prisoner, enslaved by action, dragged onward by desire. Happy is that dweller in the city of nine gates whose discrimination has cut him free from his act: he is not involved in action, he does not involve others.

“The devoted dwell with Him, they know Him always there in the heart, where action is not. He is all their aim. Made free by His Knowledge from past uncleanness of deed or of thought, they find the place of freedom, the place of no return” (Bhagavad Gita 5:8-13, 17).

Being the ravine of the world, he has the original character (teh) which is not cut up. Identifying with the Eternal Witness, the Tao, the sage returns to and lives in perfect and undisturbed Unity. Fragmentation is the root evil of the deluded and bewildered who stumble through life after life in this world. Only when the mind and heart are unified along with the body can peace and wisdom be attained. To live in–and as–The One is the secret of freedom.

And returns again to the babe. Taoist texts speak of the spiritual embryo–the arising in the consciousness of the original state of Tao. We must all return to that primal state. Jesus was referring to that when he prayed: “O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). We must be clothed again in the Tao–that is, the Tao must become our body and soul. Nothing but the Tao can remain in our consciousness, for the Tao IS consciousness. We must “know” the Tao and “unknow” everything else. The Tao is the Divine Darkness which is the only true Light. All viable mystical traditions tell us this and urge us onward to its realization.

He who is conscious of the white (bright) but keeps to the black (dark) becomes the model for the world. Being the model for the world, he has the eternal power which never errs, and returns again to the Primordial Nothingness.

He who is conscious of the white (bright) but keeps to the black (dark) becomes the model for the world. Those who can be aware of–and deal successfully with–the world and yet never lose awareness of their true nature is a model for all sentient life. Why?

Being the model for the world, he has the eternal power which never errs, and returns again to the Primordial Nothingness. Conserving his inner powers by refusing to expend them in externals–especially in emotions and desires–he is enabled to return to that Unity which existed before Diversity and to which all must return, for that is the sole Goal of evolving life.

He who is familiar with honor and glory but keeps to obscurity becomes the valley of the world. Being the valley of the world, he has an eternal power which always suffices, and returns again to the natural integrity of uncarved wood.

This is a reaffirmation of the first two verses. Those who prefer to be unknown to a world which clamors for notoriety (usually undeserved) become reservoirs of creative power which develops into recreative power which of its own turns back to the Primal Integrity and rejoices in the peace and stillness of eternal Formlessness that is hidden by form.

Break up this uncarved wood and it is shaped into a vessel. In the hands of the Sage they become the officials and magistrates. Therefore the great ruler does not cut up.

To make something we must destroy the unity and integrity of the material(s) from which it is to be made. That is why the Zen Master Seung Sung advocated the simple maxim: “Make Nothing.” It is the same with people: they can be “made” into many things, but in the “making” they cease to be what they really are. The great authorities, the masters of wisdom such as Lao Tzu, show us how to be what we are, for we can really be nothing else. As long as we try to be something we are not, only great confusion, pain, and evil can result. A yogi I once travelled with in the West was approached by a child on a ferry boat. Seeing his Indian sadhu clothing as well as his long hair and beard, she asked him: “What are you supposed to be?” He smiled radiantly and answered: “Oh, just What I’m supposed to be!”

The truly wise do not disturb the original integrity of people or things. In this way the Tao alone prevails.

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This site presents the path of meditation and practical spiritual life and is a service of Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram), which is located in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA.

Dedication of OCOY.org

This site is inspired by and dedicated to Paramhansa Yogananda, who introduced yoga meditation and the goal of self realization to the American people, and whose writings reveal the underlying unity of original Christianity and original Yoga.